McKlain has written an Amstrad CPC version of Funky Stars, also known as Hybrid Song. Original song by Quazar of Sanxion. This song is known for being used in numerous keygen programs.

This song is part of his future music disk for the Amstrad CPC. Stay tuned.

It's sampled from his Amstrad CPC 464, no emulation, made with Arkos Tracker.

After writing remakes of Barbarian, North and South, Spy vs Spy, Anuman Interactive is going to release on the 16th May a remake of a 1988 game : Fire and forget, on PC, MAC, Iphone, Ipad and Android.

A new reflexion game work in progress but still playable (11 levels only at the moment, 50 in the end) : Luftballon.

Still Rising by Vanity got the second place at the oldschool demo competition of the Revision 2013 demo party.

ReSeT is an Amstrad CPC demo party taking place at Coutances from friday 28th june (10 am) to sunday 30th june (6 pm) in Normandy.

Named before Amstrad Expo, this party organized by Eliot (Benediction), is a success each year since 2000.

Whatever your interest in Amstrad CPC, you will be welcomed. It will be the occasion to see previews of incoming programs and to meet other CPCists..

As usual there will be a contest.

More informations on ReSeT's site.

JavaCPC émulates since a moment also the CPC+. You can check CPC+ demos on this site with the emulator.

Revision 2013 will take place in Saarbrücken (from 29/03 to 01/04).

A little group of CPC users will be there (Offset, Toms, Eliot, maybe Grim, Rouquemoute, Hicks and others).

The next Vanity demo will be presented saturday night, in the oldskool category : Batman ending.

Mind in Motion, an Amstrad CPC 15 Ko dentro written in 3 days and released at Forever 14 by Software Failure in 2013. Code, graphics and music by Ham/SFL, Arkos Tracker Music player by Targhan and Grim/Arkos. It needs a 64 Ko CPC.

Arcade Game Designer (documentation of AGD) is a tool by Jonathan Cauldwell to make games on ZX Spectrum and lately on Amstrad CPC, without any knowing of programmation. The games created wont scroll the entire screen : they are static. There is also a PC tool : TommyGun.AGD to make the games, working only with the ZX Spectrum AGD version only at the moment.

Check the youtube video of an AGD game : Donkey Kong Reloaded.

Invasion of the Zombie Monsters by Relevo Videogames is a spanish game release in 2010 on ZX Spectrum and now in 2013 on Amstrad CPC and MSX.

SAMdisk v3.5 by Simon Owen is out.

The utility supports transfers between floppy disks and disk images, and is designed to work with almost any soft-sectored disk format compatible with the PC floppy controller, including some copy-protected formats.

Low-level floppy device access requires the fdrawcmd.sys driver to be installed.

Version 3.5 (2013-01-07)
------------------------
- Fixed interleave and skew values for Pro-Dos .cpm images
- Alignment tweaks to some output formatting
- Restored code signing to help download validation

Have a great holiday and let's hope Santa Claus will bring you a lot of things.

Space Harrier is a well known game by Sega published on Amstrad CPC by Elite in 1986.

In 2004, Space harrier was available on PS2, today Space Harrier 3D is available on your Nintendo 3DS as a download for the eShop.

You can check the longplay video by Xyphoe on Youtube in 2 parts : first part and last part.

The Oliver twins have a kickstarter page for Dizzy Returns (on PC only though).

Dimension Z (a MSX group) is working on an Amstrad CPC conversion of the Spectrum game Teodoro No Sabe Volar (Theodore doesnt know how to fly), which was released by the Spanish group RetroWorks in 2010.

You can test the ZX Spectrum version of Teodoro no Sabe Volar online.

The Amstrad CPC is almost finished, its author Pepe Vila is looking for a few more free bytes to pack all he want in the program.

Youtube video of Teodoro No Sabe Volar on MSX

Youtube video of Teodoro No Sabe Volar on ZX Spectrum

Kevin Thacker just released Pluslib for the C compiler SDCC to be able to use the new features of the Amstrad CPC+.

For the moment you are able to use the CPC+ colors and sprites, more functions will come later.

Karateka is the first game by Jordan Mechner (also author of Prince of Persia whose sources have been found a few months ago) on Apple 2, but also on Amstrad CPC.

Karateka was released one week ago on Xbox360 and soon on PS3.

This new version features whole new style of graphism.

You can see on Youtube the game wholly played by Ataru'75 in 2 parts :

• first part of Karateka played by Ataru'75
• second part of Karateka played by Ataru'75

Check Slashdot for more informations.

Totems is the latest production by ESP Soft, a columns like game for 1 or 2 players (coop or vs). Their first version of a columns like game in 2004 was only intended for 1 player.

The library CPCRSLIB for the SDCC compiler has been updated :

• 11/03/2012 : cpcrslib for SDCC package updated with a new font type in GphStr.s (TOTEMS font type) for and included TileMap.h file that is required to compile TileMap.s and was missing in the previous upload.
• 10/24/2012 : cpcrslib for SDCC beta released.
• 05/21/2012 : cpcwyzlib for SDCC released

Yet another plasma is a new Amstrad CPC demo in 2012 by ... Logon System.

Le mur de berlin is a graphical adventure game by Tom et Jerry on Amstrad CPC, inspired by the game of the same name on Apple 2 by Froggy Software.

Will you be able to prevent the explosion of the Berlin Wall ? It's time to know if you are good as the best spy in the world (no not James Bond) known as Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath (aka OSS117).

As a wink, lets celebrate a happy birthday to Eliot, I hope you will be able to organize many more meetings in the years to come.

Ici Londres, les français parlent aux français, I repeat, les sucres en morceaux didnt melt yet inside the café.

In fact the web site les sucres en morceaux just got a lifting with a new menu and many corrections/updates to its content.

Beware, too much sugar in your café will ruin it though...

Inspired by the Batman forever demo, here is an intro/demo by CRTC and 3LN : Sugarlumps, with a music by Mr_Lou.

The 24th August 2012, we could listen to a french radio for 2 minutes and 26 seconds on France info talking about Amstrad CPC : familles à tout prix with Jean Zeid and 2 other people : Guillaume Delalande, journalist at LCI and Philippe Dubois, président of the mo5.com association.

After creating a Barbarian remake for its 25th anniversary, F.L. just programmed in only 1 month and 1000 lines code Crazy Cars CPC : a faithful remake though with some differences : shorter levers for example. The game is open source so you can make it better if you want.

F.L. did program it with in basic (QB64), which is a windows compiler. You can get out your gwbasic or quick basic programs and still run them with QB64, or use the new features bringed by QB64 (like networking).

NoRecess has done a new interview : Toto - Easter Egg, on of the authors of the upgraded version of R-Type.

CPC Génération is a nice video (no need to understand french) by Tau Ceti about Amstrad CPC. I invite you to see it. The video is quite dark, the effect is intented.

The music of CPC Génération is available on SoundCloud.

As seen on the SymbOS mailing list :

So I set up a project at SourceForge.net now :
SymbOS on SourceForge

Additional information have to be added, this is just a first start.

You can checkout the application and driver source codes here :
https://symbos.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/symbos

You don't need an account for read access. If you want to have write access please contact me directly.

If you try this and have any issues please tell me.

CU,
Prodatron

Ok, so you want to get the sources ? Then start to download TortoiseSVN and install it.

Then create a new directory, right click on it, choose SVN Checkout... and copy and paste https://symbos.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/symbos in URL of repository.

Et voila ! You have the SymbOS sources on your computer to toy with it.

To update the sources to the last version, right click on the directory and choose SVN Update (english documentation of subversion available, other languages too).

About the Conway game of life, I recommand to read What is the Game of Life ? by Paul Callahan and More than a game : the Game of Life by Adrian McMenamin.

No no, I don't suggest that the Commodore 64 is 2 points better than our beloved Amstrad CPC. Far from my mind, the C64 is just ... different, I was never interested in the war between machines.

In fact the Commodore 64 celebrates its 30th birthday, whereas we have to wait until September 2012 for the Amstrad CPC 464 to celebrate its 28th birthday.

Two old men who still looks good and healthly.

I should have written about this subject since a long time. I have a list long as my arm of things to write about, from time to time I fish in this list but I have the feeling that I am like one of the Daughters of Danaus.

JavaCPC is an Amstrad CPC emulator (and CPC+ since a few moment) by Markus Hohmann (Devilmarkus). It's a java applet (needing an internet navigator, whereas JavaCPC Desktop is a standalone emulator).

This emulator can store the high scores of 13 current games, so you can show to all other people how big is your score ! More than 1000 games are already playable online.

Recently CPC+ emulator was added (see the video) and better processing of the sound processor. Time for you to see for yourself.

As seen on the SymbOS mailing list :

Already posted this on MRC, but here again...

Seems that I am back now on the Z80 after a break of nearly 5 years - terrible long time...

In May I started to work on a Amstrad CPC project again. One week ago I developed a little SymbOS application to become familiar with all this stuff. Luckily it seems, that I didn't forget too much... It's nothing special, just another "Conway's Game Of Life" implementation, and it should only demonstrate two things:

• the final version uses "multithreading" to show the multitasking behaviour of SymbOS: The field generator process will run at a low priority, so that other apps and the controls of the app itself won't be slowed down in any way
• I am coding for SymbOS again

Here is a video, I guess I will release this little app in a few days.

Before I can work 100% on SymbOS again I have to finish this other CPC specific project first, but that has to be done until autumn. I need to finish a few things for SymbOS 2.1, finalizing the multiline textbox control, fix some stuff with the new version of the MSX device driver system etc. I really want to make a 2.1 release soon, hopefully end of this year, so that it's possible to concentrate on larger things after that again.

Many greetings and CU soon,
Prodatron

Since several years this site was on genesis8.free.fr with the domain www.genesis8bit.com being a redirection on the free address.

Now you can forget both addresses, and change your bookmark/favorite to www.genesis8bit.fr. The new site is faster, using PHP 5 instead of PHP 4 on free. I can use sub-domains, so if you want faster web site loading, you can use the mobile version of www.genesis8bit.fr (no youtube video). A domain for loading pictures will soon make loading a bit more faster.

And to make this page loading even faster, I am looking at the Zend Framework with zend cache, db and paginator.

The final version of the multi platform C compilator SDCC v3.2.0 is avalaible.

It brings better Z80 code generation, if you already use SDCC, you should update your version.

Here is a HD video by Metr81 (February 2011) of the Amstrad CPC game Head over Heels edited by Ocean Software in 1987. A great classic written by Jon Ritman.

Super Edge Grinder is an updated version of Edge Grinder by Axelay.

It comes with news graphics by Rex (Beng) and updated music by Tom & Jerry. There is also a boss.

A following to Captain Blood by Exxos (later renamed to Cryo) should be a good thing : Captain Blood Legacy.

But when we know that they sacrificed the Amstrad CPC used to program the original game, should we howl to the moon, hoping that this sacrifice wont be useless ? Will this following game be enough to fill the emptyness created by this awful destruction ? I do hope so...

Imaginario Colectivo is the last Amstrad CPC game by ESP Soft (adventure/platform).

History, programmation and graphics by GG, sound by McKlain, edition by Litos.

From the same authors : Hora Bruja.

Oh Mummy is an Amstrad CPC classic, programmed by Gem Software and published by Amsoft in 1984. The music comes from a child music : The Streets of Cairo, or the Poor Little Country Maid.

There is a Oh Mummy remake for Mummy pour Iphone by Lentrica Software for 0,99 €.

An Oh Mummy remake for Sega Megadrive by 1985 Alternativo (Spain) can be ordered in advance, the game being available in October 2012.

The french newspaper Hebdogiciel published many computers listings, for all computers of the 80 era in this weekly newspaper by Shift Editions.

It was available between 1983 and 1987, and survived only with its sales, disallowing ads to stay independent.

Today, all its listing are available on Hebdogiciel.

As much as we love our Amstrad CPC, the sound we get with the General Instrument AY-3-8912 sound chip isnt the best one on 8bit computers. Happily it's possible to get a better sound with either a Digiblaster, an Amdrum or a Music Machine.

The first version of the Digiblaster was designed by Face Hugger ( Interview of Face Hugger by NoRecess) and printed in the German magazine CPC Amstrad International in issue 8-9/1991. It's a small hardware device plugged into the CPC's printer port to play 8-bit mono sound samples. Joshua made a redesign for better sound quality (electronic printout of Digiblaster v1 and v2 here). Then there is new Digiblaster by Futurs : the SoundPlayer and the SoundPlayer+ (VN96 network included). The SoundPlayer+ was replaced later by the SoundPlayerNG.

The digiblasters v1, v2 and SoundPlayer(+/NG) can be connected to passive mono speakers.

A few months back, Bryce made a redesign with even better sound quality : the Digiblaster v3. You can feed the AY output through the card so that both sound sources are played through the same speakers. The DigiBlaster has been made dual-mono so that both speakers play the sample as is done with the AY-3-8912 Channel B. The AY and Digiblaster sound levels are balanced. You must use active stereo speakers.

You can write music using the Digiblaster with :

• Cocoon Player by One (1995)
• Digitracker by Prodatron (1993)
• The Drumming CPC by Andreas Stroiczek (aka Face Hugger), published as a listing in issue 4/5'92 of CPC Amstrad International
• FuturePlayer by TFM (FutureSoft)
• Protracker by Crown (1993)

At least 2 Amstrad CPC demos did use the Digiblaster : Bordelik Demo 4 (1995) and Digital Orgasm (1994).

The Amdrum has been made by Cheetah, but it uses the expansion connecter. It can also play 8bit samples like the Digiblaster, and was advertised as a drum synthesiser. You can check the youtube video of the Amdrum being used with the JavaCPC emulator.

A third device which I found on CPCWiki : the Music Machine, using the expansion connector like the Amdrum. Another hardware letting play sound samples, designed by Flare Technology and manufactured by RAM Electronics. It could record sound with a microphone.

Due to a bug in its CMS Xoops, Phenix Informatique (Amstrad.eu) is closing for an unkwown duration.

Sad news, lets hope that it will rise again from its ashes like it already did several times in the past.

UPDATE : well finally it wasnt a CMS bug, but a problem of the web hosting service. So the web site is working fine once again, pfiou. For once I was too quick to write a news.

Orion Prime, the Amstrad CPC adventure game, has been translated in english, spanish and french, but now also in german..

Glory Holes, an Amstrad CPC demo got the 1st place at the ReSeT#8 meeting (Coutances).

Main code by Krusty/Benediction, player byGrim/Semilanceata, music by Tom&Jerry/GPA. Graphics by Grim/Semilanceata, Beb/Vanity, Ced/Condense and Voxfreax/Benediction.

Asm sources are included inside the archive.